Land Rover News: Rumorpile: Land Rover Plans A Defender Pickup

[William Maley]

Land Rover is expected to finally show off the new Defender sometime this year as part of the brand's 70th anniversary celebration. But there is already talk about adding more variants, one of those being a pickup.

Autocar reports that Land Rover will launch this model in 2020 to go up against the likes of the Mercedes-Benz X-Class, Toyota HiLux, and others. Unlike most trucks that offer a range of cab styles, the Defender pickup will only be offered as a regular cab. This is due to the Defender's unibody structure as it is easier to adapt a regular cab layout then a crew cab. Engines are expected to be 2.0L gas and diesel engines from Jaguar Land Rover's Ingenium family.

Land Rover is expected to offer a wide range of specifications from a spartan work truck to a very luxurious to take on the X-Class. The model is expected to be sold in Europe, Africa, South America, and the U.S. The last one is interesting as the majority of pickups sold in the U.S. tend to be extended or crew cabs, which could hurt the Defender pickup if it arrives.

Source: Autocar

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[G. David Felt]

Interesting, A standard cab unibody pickup. It will sell but in very limited numbers I think.

Luxury buyers are going to want extra room and as such,I questions it's ability to sell profitably.

[Robert Hall]

I didn't realize the new Defender was going to be unibody..the classic Defender was body on frame, and had previously been offered in single and double cab versions in certain markets like the UK.   The Defender was always one of the most serious and hard core of 4x4s, sounds like they are trying to make it  another luxury CUV, which seems pointless as they have all the Range Rover models..

Edited April 23, 2018 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[smk4565]

I read in addition to the Defender, Land Rover wants to add 3 more vehicles, so a pickup could be one.   They make 4 or 5 Range Rovers, they could make 3 Defenders and 3 Discoveries and Freelander is supposed to come back.

[G. David Felt]

27 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

I read in addition to the Defender, Land Rover wants to add 3 more vehicles, so a pickup could be one.   They make 4 or 5 Range Rovers, they could make 3 Defenders and 3 Discoveries and Freelander is supposed to come back.

But if they do them all Unibody, they will truly loose the Defender strength of a Body on Frame SUV. As @Cubical-aka-Moltar points out, the traditional defender was single or double cab and another Unibody just muddies up the picture. I DO NOT see a need for more clone CUV versions under Defender name as it becomes a badge job just about of a Range Rover.

[riviera74]

A unibody Land Rover Defender pickup?  Have they not seen the lack of sales of the Honda Ridgeline?  And Hondas have historically been better built than anything Land Rover has done over the years.

[Drew Dowdell]

8 minutes ago, riviera74 said:

A unibody Land Rover Defender pickup?  Have they not seen the lack of sales of the Honda Ridgeline?  And Hondas have historically been better built than anything Land Rover has done over the years.

Well they're building Velar 2-door coupes... I'm sure it is just a vanity exercise.